Off The Streets Huntington Beach focuses on housing the homeless in Orange County & Riverside County California. Since 2014 we have housed over 400 individuals.

Our Mission: We House The Homeless

Our Mission

Off the Streets – Huntington Beach is a non-profit charity focused on housing the homeless in Orange County and Riverside County California. Since 2014 we have housed over 500 homeless individuals.

501(c)(3) Tax ID 46-4900223

Video: Our Story – Off The Streets Huntington Beach

Our Offer

Featured Video: The Story of Milagros

Our Approach

Our Approach

Our Approach involves working with the homeless who have monthly income (job, disability, public assistance, etc.). After we determine that an applicant is eligible for our services we build a personalized budget with them to determine how much rent they can afford based on their income and all their expenses. Then, if they are able to find an appropriately priced rental that fits this budget, we pay the security deposit directly to the landlord to get the them placed. After they are in their new rental, we deliver the essential household goods and furniture they need to get a new start in life. All of this is possible due to the incredible generosity of our donors.

Compassion + Personal Responsibility: We exist to give the homeless a compassionate hand up. However, our approach requires the person we help to accept most of the responsibility for getting off the streets. They must be motivated. They must be willing to go through an in-depth financial review. They must find their own rental. They must have income to pay rent on an ongoing basis. We encourage and guide them but they do the work.

100% volunteer & minimal overhead expenses: We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity with an all-volunteer team. We continually strive to keep overhead expenses to an absolute minimum. We have no paid staff or office building. Most of our volunteers work out of their own homes. In addition to paying security deposits to help our homeless clients get into a home of their own, our other client related expenses include our warehouse rental and the operating costs for our box truck so we can provide them furniture. Our only expenses that are not directly related to client services are mandatory insurance and general and administrative costs such as information technology, office supplies, and other operating expenses. That means 95% of your financial donations go directly toward helping the homeless get off the street.

100% private funding: We accept no government funding. All of our donations are from private individuals and organizations. This gives us the ability to operate efficiently, quickly, and with no regulatory restrictions or reporting requirements. Beyond giving financially, you can also contribute to our mission in other ways such as donating household goods or simply spreading the word about our charity.

One-time service: We provide our service one time only; we don’t have any repeats. As such, we conduct in-depth financial reviews with the people we help to maximize that person’s chances for long term success – the first time.

Fiscal discipline: We will not pay a security deposit to place someone unless we are convinced they have the ability to pay future month’s rent. To do otherwise would be an irresponsible use of the money our donors entrust to us and it would not help them remain housed over the long run. To ensure this we build a detailed budget with each of our clients to keep their monthly rent below 50% of their total income. Then, only if they are able to find a rental that fits this budget will we pay the security deposit directly to their landlord. We believe this budget is the foundation for them to stay housed for the long term. And, most importantly, if we were to place someone without a high confidence in their success, they would likely suffer an eviction, and fall further into the pit of homelessness because we wouldn’t be able to help them again and their credit history would be damaged.

Who We Help

Who We Help

There are many forms of homelessness.

And it’s not just the homeless you see on the street. There are also the “hidden homeless” who are in shelters, hotels, their vehicles, and others who are couch hopping from house to house with friends and relatives just to stay sheltered.

Some are homeless due to mental illness or addictions, and these individuals require many services and an entire community of providers to get off the street – it is a very complex problem with no simple solutions. Others are actually homeless by choice because they enjoy the lifestyle and they have no desire to get off the streets or they simply don’t have the recurring income to afford monthly rent.

However, there is another category of homeless that Off The Streets focuses on. These are the “Economically Homeless” who have suffered some sort of crisis (medical, financial, abuse, unforeseen evictions, etc.) and these are the individuals that we strive to help. They have income, just not enough to get out of their homeless situation. They are very motivated to get off the streets but they need a one-time hand up to do so. That’s where we come in.

First we build a budget with them to determine a monthly rent they can afford over the long term. After they find a rental that fits this budget, we help them get housed with the Security Deposit which we pay directly to the Landlord. Lastly, because many in this category have lost all their possessions, we give them a new start by providing essential household goods and furniture free of charge, most often delivered right to their new rental by our volunteers.

We would love for you to join our cause in whatever way best suites your interests, availability, and resources. Contact us at info@otshb.com to get started.

Our History

Our History – Huntington Beach Chapter

Frustration: Our charity was born out of frustration. In 2012 and 2013 a few of us on our team had been working in homeless assistance agencies and food kitchens, and while we were able to feed and clothe people and help them survive from day to day, we realized that most of the homeless we were helping had no plan to get off the streets. In addition, we realized that this daily assistance was in some ways enabling this behavior of remaining stuck in their homeless situation. Over time, this frustration motivated a few of us to look for a different and more permanent approach.

A Difficult Question: Around this same time in the Fall of 2013, a long-term homeless man coincidentally asked one of us, “How can I get off the street?” We soon realized none of us really had an answer to this man’s question. So one of us went online and did what many of us do these days: we did a Google search on the question “how do you get a homeless person off the street?” And one of the top search results was a small, grass roots charity in Danbury, Connecticut called Off The Streets. We read through their site many times, found out they had placed over 200 homeless people into permanent housing over a 4 year period, and most of all, we came to the conclusion that their approach really works. After much consideration, we decided to start an Off The Streets chapter right here in Orange County.

A New Chapter is Born: Over the course of an 8 month period and with the guidance of the founding Off The Streets chapter we formed a small team and started Off The Streets – Huntington Beach in June of 2014. We started OTS with a focused mission to give the homeless hope; a budget and plan to get out of their situation; a financial “hand up” and not a “hand out” so that they can get and stay housed; and guidance and encouragement at every step in our process that has been proven to work.

Video: How OTS was Inspired by Kids

Our Brochure

Our Brochure

We keep things simple. Our business card is our brochure. Our cards contain all our contact and service information. We’d be happy to mail you (free of charge) a stack to hand out to the community. Email us at info@otshb.com.

Important: The address below is not a physical office and no staff or services are available there. This address is for mail only.

Our Mission

Off the Streets – Huntington Beach is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit charity (Tax ID 46-4900223) focused on housing the homeless in Orange County and Riverside County California. Since 2014 we have housed over 500 homeless individuals. We work with the 'Economically Homeless' who have monthly income (job, disability, public assistance, etc.) and just need a financial hand up to get a new start in life. After we determine that an applicant is eligible for our services we build a personalized budget with them to determine how much rent they can afford based on their income and all their expenses. Then, if they are able to find an appropriately priced rental that fits this budget, we pay the security deposit directly to the landlord to get the them placed. After they are in their new rental, we deliver the essential household goods and furniture they need to get a new start in life.

Contact Us

Phone and Text:
657-215-0853Important: If you are seeking our services click this Get Help button before calling.Get Help

Mailing Address::Important: This is not a physical office and no staff or services are available here. This address is for mail only.
Off The Streets - Huntington Beach
419 Main Street, Suite 49
Huntington Beach, CA 92648